HANOI: Part II

Not too much has happened the last few weeks. My Korean class at the local English-language church ended and then this last weekend I went up to Seoul for our Infusion magazine meeting. Infusion is the literary magazine published by Fulbright Korea. I have been working as a staff editor for the magazine since this fall. Now my students are taking their midterm exams so I have a bit more free time. I want to take advantage of this lull to post the rest of my pictures from winter break and the gorgeous Vietnamese scenery.

Outside of Hanoi we took a ferry around Halong Bay, famous for its numerous rocky projections.

Throughout the bay are floating fishing villages. We stopped at one to rent kayaks and paddle around.

#kayakselfie

Another day we traveled a little north of Hanoi to an old capital of Vietnam. The area is described as the 'dry Halong bay' because it contains the same rocky formations.

Entrance to an old temple. This temple was unique in having been built entirely by the local population without regulation or support from any government or ruler.

Later in the day, at a different site, we rode row boats along the river.

I'm sure a large part of the local income comes from this tourism. The scenery was beautiful, but it was uncomfortable being rowed around by a woman older than my mother. 

In the last moments of our day we went bicycling  around the fields.

Mid-March Blues and Yellows

Today was the first day I felt well enough to go to yoga in two weeks. Today was a beautiful day, a mid-April day. How can it be mid-April already? The afternoons are so warm here now, sunny and breezy. When I looked at my calendar I almost cried because there is so little time left. I'm ecstatic to be healthy (or almost healthy) again and I plan to stay this way for the rest of the grant year (knock on wood).

A lot has happened since mid-March but most of it involved me coughing, sneezing and oozing. The highlights include: seeing Lee Seung Chul live in concert with my host sisters! Lee Seung Chul has been popular for ages. His most recent single and one of my favorite noraebang songs is My Love. When my host sisters found out he was coming to Gumi they booked our tickets immediately — my first time ever as a VVIP. We were maybe 15 rows away from the stage and had a great time singing, dancing and waving flashing wands. At the end of the concert several ajummas (ladies of a certain age) stood on their chairs and refused to leave the hall, yelling "Oppa! Oppa!"(Oppa is the word Korean women use for an older male friend. Literally translated its meaning is close to 'older brother', but the word is equally appropriate when used to address an older boyfriend.)

At the concert these flashing star wands are almost obligatory.

The week after the concert the cherry trees blossomed letting us know spring is finally here to stay. I visited the Geumosan trail with my host mom to admire the flowers and take some pictures.

Just as I was starting to feel better it was time to fly to Jeju for our Fulbright Spring Conference. Weather there was windy, cold and bright. It reminded me a lot of San Francisco. It was good to see all the other ETAs again, even people who I hadn't spoken to since the last conference, and we had a great time exploring Jeju island. Unfortunately our last evening I got food poisoning, so getting back to school after conference was quite difficult. 

View from Halla Mountain in Jeju.

Catching up with friends :)

It was extremely windy and cool all weekend.

After several doctor's visits I'm finally over everything except some lingering allergies. I had been feeling down, thinking how much time I wasted being sick. However, looking back now I can see how many fun moments I've had in the last month despite feeling under the weather. It's an important lesson to remember as this grant year rushes to a close, often we are doing more than we believe. It's also a good reason to keep recording, here on the blog or in my journal, because sometimes it provides a more honest perspective than my memory.